Oh, so Jonathan Barnes’ THE DOMINO MEN isn’t a sequel after all to THE SOMNAMBULIST? Well, no problem … at least for the first half.
Formerly a child star on a TV sitcom, Henry Lamb is a mild-mannered file clerk working a dead-end job in London, too spineless to speak up for himself, too weak to declare his love for his landlady (don’t worry — she’s young and hot), too much of everything to be or do anything. Until one day, when he has no choice, and he’s suddenly “promoted” without explanation and shuffled off to his new position … with the Directorate. It’s a hush-hush agency that’s been waging a secret war with the British royals for decades, and they think Henry can help them end it.
How? Because his grandfather used to work for them in secret, and is the only person who knows the whereabouts of their best-ever agent, a female who disappeared. Too bad Gramps is comatose.
This opening reminded me strongly of Mike Millar’s WANTED — or the movie — with a sad-sack protagonist who gets drafted into a clandestine organization and is forced to sac up. That’s not a bad thing — simply an observation; I’m not accusing Barnes of lifting — because DOMINO MEN is a wry, enthralling read, every bit THE SOMNAMBULIST’s equal, perhaps even surpassing it.
And then it hits that halfway point. That’s when the war they hoped to prevent begins, and Henry no longer is front and center, pushed aside for a snow-induced madness among the populace, and the coming of a tendriled creature known as the Leviathan. His very meekness amid the magical is what makes the first half so fun; that sense of joy deflates once he’s part of a multi-charactered team and introduced to the title’s nefarious pair of baddies.
Barnes is a writer of wide talent — he can do funny, fucked-up and fantastic, all in the same chapter — so no one was more disappointed than me when that one plotting misstep sucked most of the energy out of what was shaping up to be one of the year’s best. —Rod Lott
OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF THIS AUTHOR:
• THE SOMNAMBULIST by Jonathan Barnes
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